This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.
In the Company of Men
The trailer of the movie says this: The most talked about film this year has no graphic sex, no physical violence, no natural disasters, nothing but harmless conversation.
I'm not really sure if it was the most talked about movie that year, but as I had heard before seeing the movie, it does manage to give you that uncomfortable cringe factor. And there is no sex actually shown, virtually no physical violence, and obviously no natural disasters unless you consider Fort Wayne, Indiana worthy of that description.
Neil LaBute was previous to making this film, and still is I believe, a playwright and involved in the theatre. This movie could have very well been a play but considering the style and technique made a worthy film too. The locations are simple but effective. There's a wonderful kind of focus and atmosphere.
I read another review on Spout saying that the dialogue is not realistic. Well while watching this movie I was immediately reminded of some of my other favorite directors like Hal Hatley and Whit Stillman. The dialogue in these movies is not always realistic in that it is what most people would actually say. But that is because people in real life often censor themselves or are not able to put their feeling and ideas succinctly. I think LaBute and these other directors are able to take the truth of what a character is really feeling and put into their mouths what they would say if they could say it. And to me that feels more realistic than real life if you get what I mean.
Matt Malloy who plays one of the leads has actually been in many Hal Hartley movies, and I guess I just had not happened to see any of the ones he was in previous to this. But LaBute mentions in the commentary he watched many of Hartley's movies to see Malloy's performance. I saw Suriving Desire subsequent to this and realized how perfect he was for this.
Aaron Eckhart is fantastic here. You will see many comments on this movie that he may be the most evil character ever in a movie. It's amazing to me that he can elicit that kind of response. I find him evil yet strangely compelling. Even likeable at times? You can see how he got the role for Thank You for Smoking which I don't consider as good of a movie. And after seeing this movie you will be able to tell exactly why he was cast as Two-Face in the upcoming Batman movie. He's already proven that he can play two-faced. Actually he a lot more than two faces. He has quite a few faces in this film.
Something about the ending to me and that wild jazz music was just about perfect too.
Rating: 9/10